How to watch the Copa del Rey final: Barcelona vs

He celebrated by waving his winner's trophy and singing the club's anthem in front of the Barcelona fans who traveled to the final in Madrid.

"He is one of the best coaches in the history of the club", said Pique.

Barcelona has been in the Copa final in seven of the last nine seasons, including the last four.

There couldn't have been a better way to send off the Vicente Calderón stadium, as the Madrid arena will be demolished to make room for a public park. An exhibition match the next day will be its farewell before demolition.

The Copa del Rey final gives Luis Enrique an opportunity to leave Barcelona with a major trophy win in his final game in charge.

After being knocked out of the quarter-finals of the Champions League and losing the Liga Santander to Real Madrid, Barcelona and coach Luis Enrique could end the season on a high note, reports Xinhua news agency.

Messi drilled a set-piece of his own straight at Pacheco and Ivan Rakitic drove wide, before Luis Enrique's men accelerated out of sight in the closing minutes of the first half.

With (Real Madrid bound) Theo Hernandez supplying pace on the left and Marcos Llorente (also on loan from Madrid) one of the most promising central midfielders in Spain, Alaves have come to Madrid to cause an upset.

Captain Manu Garcia, at 31, is the only player who has been with the team through its rise from the third tier in 2013.

"We're a team that's going places and do the simple things very well". However, Alaves are a well-drilled side and have caused their fair share of upsets in 2016-17-as well as beating Barca, they also downed Villarreal home and away, took points of Sevilla in the league and overcame Celta Vigo to reach the final.

Those same board members also stand accused, with some justification, of failing to properly honour the players who won Barcelona's first European Cup at Wembley 25 years ago, last week.